The racing gods threw a spanner in the works just before the start of the Miami GP sprint race on Saturday. The heavens opened up above the Miami International Autodrome, to provide fans with a wet-dry 18-lap thriller. However, that didn’t phase Oliver Bearman.
In only his sixth full-time Grand Prix weekend, the Haas driver displayed yet another scintillating performance, dragging his VF-25 to points with an eighth-place finish at the chequered flag after starting the race from 19th on the grid.
While Bearman drove a solid race in treacherous conditions, he was able to catapult himself into the points because of the call he made to come into the pits and ditch his intermediate tires for slicks.
With only a handful of laps remaining, the pit walls went into overdrive to decide whether or not the transition point from wet to dry was grave enough to warrant a 20-second pit stop. The Briton gambled on it anyway to pull off a stellar result, but he would’ve to thank Yuki Tsunoda for stimulating this decision.
Explaining his decision to box for the slick tires, Bearman explained how the tire degradation on the inters and the dark color of the asphalt makes it really difficult for a driver to know if the time has come to make the switch.
“So, you have to wait for the first guy to jump to the slicks and I saw some two cars boxing in front of me. Then I asked how many laps were to go and [my race engineer] said seven. And I said there’s no way I’m doing seven laps on an inter,” he said on F1 TV’s post-sprint show.
This prompted Laura Winter to say, ” Well, in that case, you all owe Yuki Tsunoda a beer.”
In fact, it was Tsunoda who was the first to gamble for the slick tires. After starting from the pit lane, the Japanese racing ace had nothing to lose, and decided to take a chance on the slick tires to gain time on the cars ahead.
LAP 11/18
Yuki Tsunoda has gambled with a pit stop onto a set of medium tyres! He’s the first onto slicks #F1 #F1Sprint #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/M0szLXuyz2
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 3, 2025
In the end, Tsunoda’s bravery led to Bearman getting the jump on the #22 driver for the last points-paying place. A late-race battle, before an unexpected safety car period, saw Bearman edge out the Red Bull driver, who finished just outside the points in ninth.
After their pit stops, Tsunoda came in right behind the Haas of Bearman. However, owing to a solitary dry line on the track, it became virtually impossible for the Japanese driver to experiment with his lines to make a move on the Briton.
“There’s only one line to brake, one line to go straight. So, that’s fortunate if you’re defending and unfortunate if you’re trying to attack,” explained the 19-year-old.
While the rain may not affect Saturday afternoon’s qualifying, there is a high chance of the inclement weather returning for the Grand Prix in 24 hours’ time. So, the experience of this chaotic sprint race could come in handy for all drivers.
